Going over calories 1x/week? How bad is it?
lilharumaki
Posts: 112 Member
I went over my calories today and I feel really bad about myself. I haven’t even eaten dinner yet haha. Should I skip dinner? And is this going to be a big setback in the long run?
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Replies
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It depends how much over and what your deficit looks like. If you have a really small deficit and went over by that much, then yea it can slow down your progress.
I wouldn't skip dinner. That could potentially cause you to overeat at the next meal, binge, etc. And start the whole cycle again. What I would do is to move on and figure out how to hit your goals from now on. Either by planning a day of higher calories that fit your goal or eating enough during the week so you don't overeat.6 -
Depends by how much. Go over by 100 calories? Practically meaningless. Go over by 3000? Problem.7
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Thank you! I’ve been doing well all week staying within 1700 calories, but I am already at 2000 today. 😬 I’ll take your advice and get back up on it tomorrow!1
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It also depends on your deficit/chosen weight loss rate.
The higher the weight loss rate, the more margin you have to eat over your goal and still be at a deficit that day/that week.
It's just math really.
A weight loss rate of 0.5lbs per week = a daily deficit of 250 calories.
1lb per week = daily deficit of 500 calorie
Etc
Or if you use the metric system, 0.25kg per week = daily deficit of 275 calories.
Etc.
So eating over your calorie goal doesn't necessarily mean you won't lose weight that day or that week.
I don't think skipping a meal is a great idea, I would aim for a lighter meal to 'limit the damage' and just take it in your stride and move on. Life happens, nobody's perfect. And if it happens several times in a short period, you could think about why it happened and see if you can do anything to prevent it in the future.3 -
Thank you, Lietchi! This helps a lot. I’m probably going to only have something light anyway because I’m not too hungry from eating too much 😂3
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Some people only calculate their calories by the week so don't worry about it. Overall, if we eat 3500 fewer calories than we expend in a given period of time, we will lose 1 pound in that given period of time. Unfortunately, this can be camouflaged by water weight fluctuations but in general that is how it works. If you ate over your established calorie limit by a certain number of calories today, it just delays the end of the time period for losing the pound you are planning to lose by consuming 3500 fewer calories than you expend.
No profit in punishing yourself by skipping supper. You'll just feel miserable. Just learn from this experience. Why did you do it? Would you do it again? If not, how will you avoid doing it? No sweat, no bother. You are responsible for evaluating and adjusting your own behaviors.
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HeidiCooksSupper wrote: »Some people only calculate their calories by the week so don't worry about it. Overall, if we eat 3500 fewer calories than we expend in a given period of time, we will lose 1 pound in that given period of time. Unfortunately, this can be camouflaged by water weight fluctuations but in general that is how it works. If you ate over your established calorie limit by a certain number of calories today, it just delays the end of the time period for losing the pound you are planning to lose by consuming 3500 fewer calories than you expend.
No profit in punishing yourself by skipping supper. You'll just feel miserable. Just learn from this experience. Why did you do it? Would you do it again? If not, how will you avoid doing it? No sweat, no bother. You are responsible for evaluating and adjusting your own behaviors.
Thank you for your insight, this helps put it into perspective. I know my problem is that I had the bag in front of me and ate too much. If I measure it out, I guess I can avoid that pitfall in the future!1 -
When I find myself to be well on my way to an overage, I bring out the bag of tricks and try to have for my next meal food that I tend to find relatively filling for the calories.
I don't wait for tomorrow to get back on plan; but I don't try to atone for my non-existent sin of having gone above target.
After accepting whatever overage I ended up with (and perhaps thinking a bit as to whether I even need to bother looking into why it all happened, and if I do decide to look into it, then taking the time to try and figure out WHY it happened) I then continue with an "as normal" next day.
I won't hide that I perhaps take a moment to at least TRY to start the next day with choices that I would normally find relatively filling for the calories--but i am against trying to "make up" for the previous day when eating at a deficit.
Slightly different story when maintaining if deficit days (banking calories) are not already baked into your plan. At maintenance I would consider a -150 to -250 deficit. I usually set that up by transferring a small portion of the overage over to the next day. However I've found that this really does have to be kept to a dull roar to avoid setting up a "sin" and "expiation" dynamic. All in all I would say that "(pre) banking" calories has a nicer mental warm fuzzy feeling to it, though once again I would keep the amounts small and under 10% of TDEE if possible.5 -
When I find myself to be well on my way to an overage, I bring out the bag of tricks and try to have for my next meal food that I tend to find relatively filling for the calories.
I don't wait for tomorrow to get back on plan; but I don't try to atone for my non-existent sin of having gone above target.
After accepting whatever overage I ended up with (and perhaps thinking a bit as to whether I even need to bother looking into why it all happened, and if I do decide to look into it, then taking the time to try and figure out WHY it happened) I then continue with an "as normal" next day.
I won't hide that I perhaps take a moment to at least TRY to start the next day with choices that I would normally find relatively filling for the calories--but i am against trying to "make up" for the previous day when eating at a deficit.
Slightly different story when maintaining if deficit days (banking calories) are not already baked into your plan. At maintenance I would consider a -150 to -250 deficit. I usually set that up by transferring a small portion of the overage over to the next day. However I've found that this really does have to be kept to a dull roar to avoid setting up a "sin" and "expiation" dynamic. All in all I would say that "(pre) banking" calories has a nicer mental warm fuzzy feeling to it, though once again I would keep the amounts small and under 10% of TDEE if possible.
Thank you!! It’s nice to hear your thoughts on it and how you handle it!1 -
If your calorie goal is 1700 and you eat 1600 a day for 6 days, you need to eat a total of 2300 on the 7th day to average 1700.
Or if you eat 1650 for 6 days, you would need to eat 2000 on the 7th day.
If I overeat during the day, I try to have a good meal that’s low calorie for supper, like tuna salad or beef veggie soup. Then tomorrow is a new day.
If you figure out why you overate, how much it keeps you from your goal, how to handle it better next time, or whether this was really a good thing for you, then the lessons learned will be much more valuable than the detriments of a few calories.2 -
I went out for dinner last weekend and went way over my daily calories but not over my maintenance calories for the week I think. The morning after I did gain 1.5 kg so I was expecting to not lose any weight this week but when I checked this morning the 1.5 kg was gone and I even lost 1 pound.
So I wouldn't worry to much if it happened once a week. If you feel like it go for an extra walk or something so you burn more.2 -
Drink lots of water it will help flush out sodium over load. Look at what macros are ovdrloaded and decide your dinner from there. It will be ok 👍2
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lilmakiroll wrote: »HeidiCooksSupper wrote: »Some people only calculate their calories by the week so don't worry about it. Overall, if we eat 3500 fewer calories than we expend in a given period of time, we will lose 1 pound in that given period of time. Unfortunately, this can be camouflaged by water weight fluctuations but in general that is how it works. If you ate over your established calorie limit by a certain number of calories today, it just delays the end of the time period for losing the pound you are planning to lose by consuming 3500 fewer calories than you expend.
No profit in punishing yourself by skipping supper. You'll just feel miserable. Just learn from this experience. Why did you do it? Would you do it again? If not, how will you avoid doing it? No sweat, no bother. You are responsible for evaluating and adjusting your own behaviors.
Thank you for your insight, this helps put it into perspective. I know my problem is that I had the bag in front of me and ate too much. If I measure it out, I guess I can avoid that pitfall in the future!
See, there you go: *That's* what you do if you go over calories. Perfect!
You learn from it, and adjust your plan, to make a better, more sustainable, more successful plan. And then you go with following your new plan, no "making up for" or "feeling bad about". (You *learned* something, and *improved* something. You should feel good, not bad.
).
Food is not sin, so there's no need to expiate it. We just need to find good ways, ways that work for us as individuals, to balance calories, nutrition, tastiness, social events, celebrations, and activity levels, in order to attain then long-term maintain a healthy weight. It's a planning and improving process, not a "sin and expiation" process. 7 -
I have a backup plan.
I am particularly fond of Progresso Lite italian wedding soup. It’s delicious, filling, and 170 calories for a very large can.
If I see myself veering towards an evening overage or know I have a big dinner coming up and need to lighten lunch, I reach for my soup stash to keep the overall day down.
It’s very reassuring to know that salvation is waiting for me in my cupboard.3 -
First don't feel bad. Second this is a journey not a destination. going over every so often is nothing to punish yourself over1
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One time? Don't be hard on yourself at all! Geeze Louise, I go over atleast once a week. You will be fine!!!2
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Depends on what your goal is...
Daily is a target for me. Weekly is my standard. I want my weekly to be as close to exact as possible. Some days I'm a bit under. Other days are a carb reload.1 -
If you are new to this you should give yourself permission to be new. I have a fairly solid routine that allows me to go through most days without much thought. This routine has been developed over 897 days. It was so far off when I was new I had to prelog all my meals to stay in my calorie budget and I still went over some days. Luckily my mistakes were not so bad that it erased my deficit and I was able to lose weight anyway.
The absolute truth is that even with my tried and true routine just last week I went over my calories. I knew when I pulled into taco bell it would likely happen but I did it anyway. I owned it and settled for a half deficit day. Perfection is not required. I just need to be good enough most of the time.2
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